February 2009 Archive

I must say, one of the highlights of my Utah trip was the visit to the Mormon Temple. It was pretty much exactly what I expected: beautiful buildings and grounds + an atmosphere of extreme mystery (they really aren’t very forthcoming with information – they just give you brief, general information) + people ready and willing to convert me. 

♦ One of our tour guides referred to Jesus as “my lord and savior Jesus Christ” at least 15 times in the span of 5 minutes. I wasn’t sure why she couldn’t just abbreviate this to “Jesus Christ” or just “Jesus” 

♦ Another tour guide (approximately 19 years old) told us her major goal in life was to finish her mission, then go home and hopefully find a husband

♦ Polygamy was never explicitly mentioned. However, one tour guide did tell us that in the past, “families were encouraged to take care of other families. But then the fourth prophet received a revelation from our Heavenly Father that this was no longer OK”. That’s one way to sugar coat it!

♦Apparently there are multiple bride rooms in the temple, so multiple marriages take place at the same time. To me, that would suck. You really don’t get anything personal; it’s almost like mass-produced marriages. The brides’ dresses were really pretty though, even with all the long sleeves and whatnot (Mormon-style if you will)

♦ While touring Brigham Young’s home, we were pretty much trapped inside until we made a promise to kneel before our beds every night and pray to God. On the one hand I’m not comfortable making a promise I’m not going to keep, but on the other hand, I was literally cornered by these women. It was incredibly intimidating and scary!!

♦ l had to fill out a comment card. In fact, everyone I encountered asked me to fill one out. Fortunately I planned ahead and didn’t list my address. After we turned them in we were told that someone would be sent to our homes to explain in more detail the Book of Mormon and information on families and the temple. I’m really not interested in having someone come to my home……

But like I said, despite the inundation of religion, the grounds were amazingly beautiful! Some pictures:  

View of the temple and tabernacle (the dome building) from the top floor of the observatory. We were only allowed on the top level and had to have a guide. I think they do a lot of business from this building. It’s all very secretive.